Medicaid expansion props up vulnerable law

Thirty-three states including Michigan have refused to create Obamacare exchanges, and as many as half the states may also refuse the law's Medicaid expansion.

Yet Republicans who control the Michigan Legislature appear close to caving to special interest pressure and accepting the Medicaid expansion. Some in the majority hope that cloaking their capitulation behind heavily diluted reforms and deeply implausible conditions will distract base GOP voters who have little tolerance for collaborating with Obamacare implementation.

Leaving aside the politics, this is short-sighted. Even with the more rigorous conditions originally included in the introduced-version of House Bill 4714 (including a 48 month cap on benefits), the Medicaid expansion is bad policy because it props up an unpopular, hideously-flawed health care law that is vulnerable on many fronts.

Lawmakers (and citizens) who oppose the expansion are not "bitter enders" refusing to accept the reality of a harmful law that's a "done deal." In fact it's anything but a done deal.

When Obamacare fully kicks in on Jan. 1, the mayhem it inflicts on families, employers and the nation's health care system may be so obnoxious that Congress — including the Democrat controlled Senate — will be forced to open the law for major amendments that reduce the damage.

Legislators who collaborate with Obamacare implementation today by approving the Medicaid expansion reduce the chances of this opportunity coming to pass.

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Here are just some of the ways Obamacare is vulnerable, with evidence for each:

In the fevered intensity of Lansing caucus rooms, lawmakers are sometimes stampeded by a false sense of urgency. They need to pause and imagine how their current actions will be perceived next January, when daily headlines are exposing Obamacare's harmful impacts on real people.

Workers who chose to leave unions want to fend for themselves but current law requires unions in union shops to negotiate their pay and work conditions. "Worker's Choice" gives employees the freedom to choose representation.

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